No Olympic blues for outdoor, as sector grows 2% in 2013

Ongoing investment in digital outdoor sites has helped the sector to build on the highs of the London 2012 Olympics and achieve unexpected growth of 2% in 2013.

No Olympic blues for outdoor, as sector grows 2% in 2013

New figures compiled by the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC), based on the performance of its industry members, highlight a record quarter four was enough to lift annual revenues by 2% to near the billion-pound mark, at £989.6 million.

Between October to December 2013, outdoor advertising generated £277.3m, which represents growth of 7.2% year on year and is the biggest quarterly spend ever reported by outdoor media owners.

The top 10 advertisers in the quarter, according to Nielsen, were (in descending order) Samsung, British Sky Broadcasting , Twentieth Century Fox, Lloyds Bank, Vodafone, Warner Bros, Google, Microsoft, Talktalk and Molson Coors.

Digital revenues in the quarter accounted for £64.6m, up 15% year on year. The revenue highs follow continued investment in digital screens that often promise more tailored and flexible ad solutions for brands.

Collectively, outdoor media players are believed to have spent more than £50 million on bringing a host of new sites to the market last year.

Mike Baker, chief executive of OMC, called it a "remarkable" performance after such an Olympic spike . He added: "Outdoor is a sure-fire way to reach the right consumers in the active space, the right contexts and the right mindsets, and as a result advertisers are multiplying: we now have 158 one million-pound spenders in outdoor, up from 149 last year."

This year, the OMC is attempting to refocus outdoor’s positioning to the advertising community around five core value propositions: Young Urban Mobile audience; The Active Space – where the senses are heightened; Impressions that Last - playing on its visual impact; The Amplification Medium - due to its ability to be a catalyst for other media in terms of reach and branding; and Changing the landscape – physically creates modernity at every turn and provide new opportunities for brands.